The New GG
by KayWhyEllEee
Summary: A new rudie is in Tokyo, and is quickly recruited by the GGs. What will happen with this new member, what adventures are in store for the gang? Who the hell knows. Just read it, it's decent. Lot's of pairings, centers on an OC that will rock your socks.
1. Chapter 1: Cat and Mouse

Well, it's time to get my ass in gear with writing this story. I started it a long time ago, then discontinued it because I decided to be stupid and lazy. But now, I'm back, with a new pen name, a new set of writing skills, and an increased vocabulary. All signs point to greatness, and if my plan for this story is anything to go on, it's going to be a long ride.

Just to clear a little bit up about this fic:

The members from JGR than got a name change in JSRF are younger siblings to their JSRF counterparts (As in: Mew is Rhyth's younger sister, Pirahna is Boogies younger sister, Tab is Corn's younger brother, and Slate is Soda's younger brother)

The time frame is set after the events of JSRF, but all the bat loco things that happened are changed a bit (it will be explained in the story eventually, but basically Rokaku never had tanks or copters or giant people-eating robots just to get rid of vandalism)

The main characters of focus are going to be Catcher, Yoyo and Mew. All the other members will be around, but these will be the characters of focus, at least for the first few chapters. I mean, there's a pretty big cast, cut me some slack.

Anyway, here's chapter one of my story, which centers around Catcher, an OC, and his adventures as the GG's newest member. Enjoy.

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**Chapter One: Cat And Mouse**

There was one thought, and one thought only on Yoyo's mind right now.

_"Who the hell is that kid, and why can't he beat up Hayashi, of all people"_

And while these two questions were to be left unanswered for now, Yoyo sprung into action. Hayashi has been chasing this teen around Shibuya Terminal for the last half an hour or so, but the teen didn't seem to be having trouble out-running him. In fact, it seemed that the teen was having fun by making Hayashi work up a sweat.

Just before Yoyo could reach Hayashi with a spray-can to the back of the head, the teen did very fast spin around on his skates and sprayed Hayashi in the eyes with a color not unlike Yoyo's hair. That made the old cop stop in his tracks and let out a string of curses, but Yoyo put him out of his misery quickly by knocking him out with the can of black in his hand. Hayashi dropped to the floor, unconscious, and Yoyo admired his handiwork. He had become very good at knocking out Hayashi when we decided to chase him.

Before speaking, Yoyo took a moment to look over the teen from behind his faux 3D shades.. He was a little shorter than Yoyo, his bright blue eyes coming to just below his own. The pair of jeans he was wearing were faded, had rips aplenty on them and a lot of writing on them, most likely stencils. Most notable were a gravestone above the left knee that said "Here Lies My Self-Esteem," a chord of music that started at the center of his right pocket and ended at the bottom of the jeans and an equality E below the left pocket, amidst various quotes and song lyrics. He had a worn, slightly ripped plain back tee on that hugged his small frame, with the word "Catcher" stencilled onto it in neon blue. to top off the entire ensemble was fiery red hair that fell in a wave to the teen's shoulders with a part down the middle.

Behind his glasses, Yoyo couldn't help but stare. Thinking about it, however, he realized he looked just as, if not more, ridiculous. A rudie was someone you could always pick out of a crowd, especially in Tokyo. Based on some people that he had seen before, the teen actually looked kind of mundane. After sitting in silence for about a minute, during which it was painfully obvious that the teen was looking Yoyo up and down to try and figure an opinion of him out, the teen held out his hand.

"Hey, my name's Keegan, mate." He said in what Yoyo could only assume was a very New York styled accent, though the way he said 'mate' made him think of the land of green clovers and brew. Yoyo left the teen's hand hanging there, taking notice of the 6 spray cans held in holsters on each side of the boy's hips.

"This is GG territory, 'mate,' what the hell are you doing here?" The way Yoyo said 'mate' was meant entirely to irritate the teen, and it worked marvelously as a scowl became apparent on Keegan's face.

"With all due respect, it's kind of hard to stay out of your territory when you own most of the damn city." The boy said in a scornful kind of tone. "Besides that, I only just got to Tokyo a few hours ago, so excuse the fact that I'm not completely sure where the hell I am."

Yoyo's eyes widened, unbeknown to Keegan of course. The fact that someone could play cat-and-mouse with the police chief and come out of it both winning and grinning was an achievement few foreign GGs could have done, instantly Yoyo was reminded of Clutch's story of being locked in jail on arrival here for having looked at Hayashi funny.

After what seemed like an agonizingly long time to Keegan, he dropped his hand in a way that screamed defeat. He began to turn around when Yoyo finally spoke in a way that wasn't accusatory.

"Tell you what, Keegan," he started, holding out his hand to Keegan, who clasped onto it and shook in a rather friendly way, considering that Yoyo was just accusing him of trying to steal territory "managing to keep Hayashi off you with only a few hours in Tokyo is pretty impressive. Mind telling me what brought you to Tokyo anyway?"

Keegan brought on a slightly distressed expression, which Yoyo didn't catch as he hadn't known Keegan for all that long. "Just felt like getting away, I suppose. You can never be in one place for too long," Keegan said in a very fixed way as Yoyo nodded. "Can I know the name of the curiouser and curiouser lad standing in front of me, maybe?"

It hadn't occurred to Yoyo that Keegan didn't know his name. It was written on his shirt in Kanji, but seeing as Keegan probably had no knowledge of Japanese, it made enough sense. "The name is Yoyo. Mostly because I had a nasty habit of saying yo after every sentence when I was younger, but I grew out it... mostly."

That made Keegan laugh, which made Yoyo laugh too. Now they were on equal levels, viewing each other as somewhat of acquaintances instead of strangers. Yoyo couldn't realize it yet, but Keegan had a way of making people feel like friends in his presence, even if he was planning to stab them in the back within minutes.

"Listen, if you're staying in Tokyo a while and planning on painting and skating, you're going to need a crew. What say the GGs recruit you?"

"Honestly, I don't think I'd mind, seeing as I don't have the case nor the luck to get a plane back to the states any time soon. But I have to warn you, my being in your gang might cause some trouble later on."

"What the hell have you managed to do with a few hours in Tokyo?"

"Well, I painted up the police station in Rokaku-Dai, where I landed, kicked a Poison Jam's ass in for calling me a bitch for not racing him, set an abandoned house on fire in Kibogaoka Hill, and tagged over a bunch of pieces from a guy names Clutch."

Yoyo had to hold his stomach when he started to laugh, clapping one skate on the ground over and over. Even if he had outgrown his days of being a squeaky-voiced teen, it was still noticeable in his laugh.

"Those are all reasons we would want you in the gang!" He said loudly in between chuckles. Keegan smiled as Yoyo lead him towards Doganzaka Hill. Keegan explained that he had gotten to Tokyo by stuffing himself into the cargo-hold of a plane in New York. He actually had no idea where he was going until he landed and say Japanese signs everywhere. Even then, he thought he was in China because he couldn't tell the difference. Yoyo listened intently to the story, admiring the fact that one would take leaving somewhere to experience something new so far. as they climbed the hill, Yoyo told Keegan of all the best and cheapest stores and restaurants in GG territory. He explained that the record store in Chuo Street had the best selection of anywhere else, the clothing stores in Dogenzaka were easy to steal from and the various pizza places, fast food restaurants and other eateries could keep one full with as little money as possible.

"Now to be a GG," Yoyo started to tell Keegan "You need a few things. One is a tag name, an alias of sorts. We don't use our real names, just in case the police decide to stop being idiots. Two are skates, which you obviously have. And three is that you need to pass our recruitment test, which was crafted way back when I first joined up. The test is one of speed and skill, that you have to beat me in a race down Dogenzaka Hill, through the back alleys and back up to the top of the hill." Yoyo obviously had that speech memorized, and looking back in GG history it becomes apparent that by recruiting member after member, it seems like a good thing to memorize. Keegan thought about the offer on last time and planned his route through the back alleys of Dogenzaka, which he had skated through when Hayashi was chasing him. He nodded inwardly to himself and put his hand out to Yoyo.

"Well, the tag name is Catcher. I'll tell you now, that you have no chance of catching me though."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Keegan was off. He sped towards the center of the street and grinded down the rails as Yoyo's wrist-radio cut in with DJ Professor K's voice.

"Oh snap, y'all, it seems like some new kid might get recruited by the GGs. Talk about gang inflation! What is this, their fifteenth member? Crazy! Kid seems damn fast though, might kick Yoyo's ass in!"

In his moment of confusion, Yoyo had no idea what was going on, or rather which way was up. He resorted to the boost feature on his skates, crouching and clicking the buttons on the side to catch back up to Catcher, who was midway down the kill by the time Yoyo had moved. Catcher jumped on top of a bus after the last rail had ended, making everyone inside think of a terrorist attack, then quickly onto a bus station overhang and into the alleyway, braking Yoyo's line of sight as he dropped from the roof of the storage building into the alley below. Yoyo boosted once again to jump from the top alley onto the out jarring building, then the rail below it to meet with Catcher again.

Yoyo was in the lead for only a few seconds until Catcher skated passed him with ease, flashing Yoyo a peace sign as he jumped down the grates that rested above the factory below, the smoke shading him as he dropped. Yoyo knew that he had lost as soon as he had done the same and saw Catcher nowhere in sight. DJ K made fun of Yoyo over the air, but it was white noise to him as he was realizing how fast Catcher had to be going. His tag name made sense in the right context, that was true.

"Where the hell did you learn to skate so fast?" Yoyo blurted out as he reached the top of the steps from the sewage pipe, drained from the beating he just got from Catcher, who just smirked as he stood up, being seated in wait for Yoyo to finish.

"So where's the base of operations then?" he asked. Yoyo pointed to an alleyway down the street a little ways, and lead Catcher to The Garage. To the GGs it was The Garage, anyway. In reality it was a platform, the second floor of a building that now ceased to exist, floating in the middle of an enclosed lot. Catcher admired the various ramps, rails and people standing about the area. He immediately became curious about the car and the UFO on a pole that seemed as out of place as he did on the streets, but pushed the thoughts out of his mind as a teen a little older than Yoyo skated towards them. Catcher took a second to look him over, noticing the bright blonde hair and the peculiar hat he was wearing first.

"Yoyo, what the hell man?" The new teen started yelling as other members of the gang began to take notice and skated towards Catcher and Yoyo. "I told you that new recruits needed to be okay'ed by me of Gum before you take them on the race! Dammit man, we've been over this time and time again!"

"If I may," Catcher interrupted the blonde, "I can do the race again if you want. Had I known that Yoyo would have gotten a shouting at, I would have come down here to introduce myself before hand."

"It's all good, Corn, really. This kid is pretty tight, you should listen all the crap he's done just in the past few hours of being in Tokyo! He's crazy! He'll fit right in!" Yoyo added to Catcher's statement, giving them a double defense against Corn, whom Catcher assumed to be the leader of the gang along with Gum, who he was about to meet as she skated forward to speak in the middle of the growing crowd of GGs.

"What exactly have you done, little boy?" She questing Catcher, who had to mentally slap himself to keep from staring at the girl's figure. She was stunning, wearing a light green short dress that hugged her frame and showed off every curve of her body perfectly. She was dirty blonde and wore a dark green helmet to top off her look of sexy-but-will-kick-your-ass-if-needed. Then Catcher realized that she called him a little boy, and became annoyed, being snapped out of his trance.

"I'm not little, thanks. But so far, I've tagged a police station, beat up a Poison Jam, set a building on fire and tagged over a few pieces from some guy named Clutch." The crowd started laughing at the last part of the sentence, and a menacing looking guy with red dreads and baggy clothes stepped into the conversation.

"You little punk, do you know how long it took me to tag up Tokyo?" He yelled at Catcher, and started stepping towards him. Corn put an arm in front of him to impede movement and looked at Clutch seriously.

"Yeah, how long did it take you to paint over our pieces Clutch, do tell. Honestly, it serves you right, you damned weasel." Corn said to Clutch, who immediately backed down and skated back towards the couch he had been lounging on before.

"Even if it was kind of stupid for Yoyo to recruit you without consent, he's a senior member and we can trust his judgement. Welcome to the GGs, Catcher, let's start with the introductions." Gum said in a much nicer tone than her previous statement, as she shook Catchers hand. Catcher then shook hands with Corn, and turned to the crowd of people surrounding him.


	2. Chapter 2: Catch Me if You Can

This chapter is written in the first person, which I think I'm a little better at than third. That's all I got as far as notes go for this, so enjoy.

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**Chapter 2: Catch Me If You Can**

"Can I take the blindfold off now?" I said, reaching towards my face to take a peek at what was happening on the other side of the cotton wall that was erected before my eyes. I felt a hand tug at my wrists, making them go behind my back.

"You can wait another few seconds, Catcher. It won't kill you." I recognized the voice as Yoyo's, which surprised me a little seeing as Gum was the one to blindfold me in the first place.

"What's this all about mate? Who else is here?" I questioned him. I don't like being kept out of the loop, and sitting on the couch in the middle of the Garage blinded was started to bore me half to death.

"Didn't Gum explain anything, yo?" He asked, then sighed after I shrugged my shoulders. I'm starting to be able to see faint outlines of the shapes in the Garage from behind the cloth, but nothing concrete enough to make suggestions about what was happening.

"You already passed the test, granted. But we decided to put you through a kind of inauguration." Yoyo started to explain to me. "See, you're a fresh face here in Tokyo, and the only tags we've seen from you are throw-ups and 2-tone pieces. Everyone in this gang knows how to do graffiti and do it well, so we want to see what you can really do."

The blindfold was pulled off me by who I assumed to be Jazz, because her scarf was now laying on my shoulder. I noticed that a table had been set up to the left, and where I was sitting on the couch was a different place than where the couch normally was. A wall was right in front of me. I saw Corn and Gum carrying over two plastic carts filled with spray paint, which they placed on the table. Turning around, I saw Mew, Rhyth, Garam, Beat, Combo and Slate standing behind the couch, looking at me with anticipation.

"You have about sixty different colors here, plus five black, five white, and two green, blue, yellow and red. Show us what you got." Corn said from behind the table. Jazz put her hands on my shoulders and pushed me up, whispering me a good luck. I was starting to get the feeling she had a fancy for me, but I had only known her for about a week now so I couldn't read her yet.

I looked at the wall in front of me and began to plan. I took a marker from my pocket and began to do a rough outline of the piece on the wall, turning towards the plastic carts every so often to make sure that I had the colors necessary. I only wrote the word 'catch' on the wall with the marker in all caps and a style unique to me that blended extra-bold and curves into it. When I reached for a can of green, I noticed that Jazz, Gum and Corn had taken my place on the sofa, and that Rhyth was now sitting on Yoyo's lap. I was pretty sure that they were dating at this point. A few chairs had also been pulled up for Mew, Garam, Beat and Combo, but Slate remained standing.

I ran over the outline in the green until the T, which I then switched to yellow for. The shaking of the metal can and the feel of the plastic cap was nostalgic, bringing back memories of late-nights with certain people and jail cells. There was to be a change in color in the T that made half the word green and the other half yellow. Green and yellow was always a nice color combination if you wanted a piece to be extra bright. I colored in each letter carefully, then outlined all the letters in black. The hole in the A had become an asterisk, another special thing that belonged to me when I did pieces. So far, the piece was looking okay.

When I looked back at the crowd again to take the can of light blue from the table, I saw Slate nodding to me, as if giving his silent approval, and Corn looking very engulfed by my process. I began to feel jittery from the people staring at my every move, which I'm sure was noticeable due to my incessant shaking, but I wouldn't let it affect my work. I started to craft a background out of the blue to resemble the affect one would have if they took a brush soaked in paint and slashed it in the air in front of a wall, making a connected splatter in a down-left angle. After that was done, I reached for the black again and started a giant black hump beneath the word, as well as going over the outlines again to prevent the blue and black from mixing. After the hump was finished, I drew a dashed yellow line to go from one side of the hump to the other in the same angle as the hump to make is resemble a road. I then went over every bit of blue and outlined it in a neon pink, making it poppy.

After all of that was done, I wrote 'me if you can' in all caps underneath the dashed line of the road in yellow, then wrote 'CATCHER' underneath that to the right to make it look like a signature, making the tail of the R form into an arrow. I turned around and bowed to the crowd, and upon looking up I saw a few people clapping and giving thumbs-ups to me. I also noticed Mew giving me a gigantic smile as I put the cans I had used back into their respective crates. I had used up two full cans of black and a can of green, yellow and blue in the process, which I promised Corn I would return soon. I took one last look at the piece and nodded inwardly to myself. It could use a few touch-ups later, but it looked just as I planned it in my head.

"Damn, this deserves some celebration!" Yoyo shouted, taking Rhyth off his lap and jumping into the air. "To the Chinese food place! On Corn!" He added, thrusting a fist into the air and jumping over the couch. Corn shook his head, but silently agreed upon hearing everyone's cheers. Everyone scrambled for a few minutes to find and put on their skates, I had already been wearing mine, and then started to assemble as the entrance to Doganzaka Hill. The weather was as perfect as could be for a trip to the Shibuya district. Admittedly, I was beginning to see Tokyo in a light that didn't compare to anything else. The cracks in the sidewalks, the numerous homeless and the rampant crime rate were things that made me mad about New York, but in this place as a foreigner I could somehow ignore it all. Even the dull skyscrapers seemed glossy in comparison to the ones in New York.

As we began to skate out of the Garage, I couldn't help but question Corn on the whereabouts of everyone else in the gang. He explained that most of them held day jobs, and that Yoyo, Beat and himself had actually taken off work today to see me work on the wall. A lot of the GGs worked at the local record store in Chuo Street, which had evolved from a hole-in-the-wall shop to a huge store with a second story. He told me he could probably get me a job there eventually, he being the senior manager, which I thought would be an interesting experience to say the least. I could finally stop stealing all the CDs I wanted.

"Oi, Catcher" I heard from behind me. Admittedly, the kid Slate was kind of creepy, but I could tell he just liked to keep to himself a bit. "Yeah mate, what's up?" I kept my voice in a friendly tone. Or at least, my feign friendly voice. I didn't really consider Slate my friend yet, so I was hesitant to open up with him like I had with Yoyo and Corn, but I tried to give him benefit of the doubt. I had to realize sooner or later that this wasn't my gang from New York, not everyone was trying to bite my head off.

"That piece was pretty slick looking, man. Where did you learn to do stuff like that?"

"Well..." I went through a quick flashback to New York. Images on old black books, written-on school desks and dry markers flashed before my eyes. "I drew a lot in school and practiced regularly. I took a bunch of art classes my junior year that helped a lot too. One of the teachers, Mr. Brown, was actually kind of an inspiration to me. Dude had some crazy style when he did paintings. If it weren't for all the pot he smoked, he would probably be my idol."

He nodded his head up and down, then fell behind again. I could tell for sure now that talking wasn't really his thing. His brother, Soda, was a little better with that kind of stuff, but maybe being antisocial ran in their genes or something. About half way down the hill, Mew came up to my right side. I could tell she wanted to say something, but was figuring out how to word it in her head. I was pretty good at reading people like that, it was a habit I formed stateside. I decided to push her mental process a bit.

"What's up Mew?" At first, she turned to me and stumbled over her words a bit. I could make out that she was trying to tell me I had a good piece, but I put on a confused expression anyway. I like to mess with people, cute girls are no exception. She managed to calm herself down enough to say a straight sentence.

"I really liked your piece, Catcher." She said slowly and deliberately. I let out a laugh at her awkwardness, amused that I had that affect on her. She laughed at herself a little too. I gave a random thought to if I was feeding into some low self-esteem issues but her genuine looking smile seemed genuine enough.

"Thanks Mew. I've seen some of your stuff around The Garage too, it looks pretty tight." She looked shocked, mouth hanging open and all, for a second. It must not register that I have the ability to compliment her.

"My art isn't all that special..." She was drifting off. She was insecure about her art.

"If you want, I could show you a few things I've picked up over the years." I pulled my marker out of my pocket and shook it in the air to demonstrate that I was serious.

"That'd be awesome! Maybe you can run through my sketch book at the Chinese place!" Her face lit up like a Christmas tree. It's not every day you make someone smile like that, and I am aim to revel in it.

"Oooh, look at the little lover boy!" Yoyo was heckling, spinning around on his skates and moving backwards. Mew started to blush and I threw my marker at him, managing to hit his nose. "You rat!" That was so worth losing my marker to the tires of a bus.

Mew moved away from my side, shrinking back to talk to her sister. I decided to speed up and grind a rail the rest of the way down the hill. Jazz decided to do the same, boosting and jumping straight over my head to get in front. If she had been wearing a skirt, I would have gotten a free show. Not one to be beaten so easily, I did the same, adding insult by tapping her on the head with my finger as I went above her. She smiled a devilish kind of smile towards me, which I couldn't stifle a laugh at because of her teal lipstick making it look silly.

"It's on Catcher!" She yelled above the sounds of the magnets of the skates grinding against the railing. She hopped off the rail and onto a bus, then onto a rail in the middle of the hill. Shibuya was only a few blocks away now, and she was intent on getting there before me. "First one to the main street intersection wins!"

With that, she boosted again and left me in the dust. Having a feeling that beating her in a race was going to be a bit more difficult than my race with Yoyo, I picked up the pace by skitching a passing motorcycle. The guy started to swat at me with his hand wrapped in dead cow, so I pulled myself to go faster than him, making a kind of sling shot affect, and jumped onto the rail Jazz was on. I looked back quickly and saw the cyclist giving me the finger, which I returned whole-heartedly. I realized I was falling behind, seeing as Jazz definitely had momentum going, so I tried to boost again, but upon clicking the button to do so, I found my skates had run out of fuel. I let out a small string of curses and jumped off the rail. I noticed a telephone pole sticking out of the ground with the wire ending at the finish line and hopped onto it. In New York I learned that grinding on an electric wire can charge your skates enough to boost them as long as you stay on said wire, so I used that to my advantage.

Grinding on electrical wires always made me a little scared. If there was one crack in the covering or if there was just a drop of water, my entire person would be friend like I belonged in Sing Sing. It's a scary thing to think about, in my defence. I've heard enough horror stories about it.

I managed to beat Jazz by maybe half a second. My heart was pounding, and I sat on a nearby bench trying to catch my breath and lose the adrenaline I was pumping as I waited for the rest of the crew to come strolling along. Jazz took her seat next to me with a slight grimace on her face, looking at me angrily.

"That was a dirty trick, Catcher." She announced to me, crossing her arms. I started to laugh, which made her noticeably annoyed. "It's not funny! I so would have had that if you didn't use that last boost!" She complained, making me laugh louder. She slapped me on the shoulder playfully, and I returned the favor. Then we were stuck in a slap war, skating around the bench and playing a small game of tag.

"If you two are done."

Corn made his presence known when he was around, I could definitely give him that. It seems we got a little too caught up in our game to realize that the gang was waiting for us to notice them.

"The Chinese place is round the corner, come on, I'm hungry!" Gum yelled at us, waving her arm in the direction of the restaurant. Jazz and I wouldn't stop snickering the rest of the admittedly short way, continuing our game with the disjointed slap every few seconds.

In entering the restaurant, if it could be called that, there were 5 tables lined up on either side of the place with a counter towards the back end with the kitchen behind it. Each table could seat four people, so I took the table in the corner towards the window and away from the door. I liked to sit furthest from people in public places, which is a habit I will keep to the grave. Mew sat next to me, then Yoyo and Rhyth sat opposite us. Corn, Gum, Jazz and Beat sat at the table in front of us, then Garam, Combo and Slate sat in front of them. The girl from behind the counter didn't speak any English, so Yoyo ordered my vegetable lo mein with friend rice for me in Japanese. I spoke a small amount of Spanish, but I didn't see Japanese being something I'd ever pick up beyond rudimentary things any time soon.

"Yo, you want some of my orange chicken?" Yoyo asked me, chowing down on the fresh-from-the-pot bird that he brought back to the table, along with the rest of our food, with him. I shook my head, fully concentrated on breaking apart the chopsticks evenly. I could swear that the cracks that were made in the chopsticks every time I tried were sentient and plotting to irritate me to no end. I could see devious faces in them. I Failed the breaking terrible, so I jumped over the back of the booth chair that I was in to avoid making Mew move to grab another pair.

"Let me do that for you." Rhyth took the chopsticks from me and broke them like a pro, chuckling at my inability to do the same.

"In New York we typically use forks, my bad." I joked, making her laugh more as I took the chop sticks from her and began to eat. I had to lift the container of rice and pour it into my mouth to eat it, which annoyed me. Was it so hard to invest in some plastic forks? I could swear that I saw a box of them in the corner store down the road when I first got to Tokyo for about 2 dollars in yen.

"How is that filling you up, yo, there's no meat!"

"Well, I'm a vegetarian, so I'm kind of used to it. Broccoli and carrots from the lo mein fill me up pretty quickly."

Dead silence.

"You're a vegetarian? That's so weird, yo! The US is like a haven for burgers and steak, how the hell are you a vegetarian?"

"It's really not that weird, mate. Besides, have you ever thought about how your country gets all its meat? It's not what I'd call a pretty picture."

"Who cares? It tastes so good!" I rolled my eyes and stuffed my face with more lo mein. I saw a movie about factory farming in my freshman year of high school that scared me off meat, and had even been part of PETA for a while. At this point, it was just normal.

I noticed Mew scribbling away in her sketch book as Rhyth chastised Yoyo for think vegetarians were an odd commodity. I peered over the girl's slender shoulder to get a look at what I assumed to be some line art for a tag. She had basic foundation, but needed a little help with making it solid.

"If you straighten out this line and connect the M with the W by swooping the line underneath the E, it might look a little better." I spoke into her ear and pointed to what I was talking about. She nodded slowly, unfazed by the fact that that came out of pretty much nowhere, and did exactly what I said. I loved that about art, when you were making it you could completely tune out any distraction and sit completely concentrated even in loud and crowded areas. I often missed my subway stop that way.

"You might actually want to think about making the E lower case to make the tail of it the same angle as the swoop that connects the M and W. Do you have a color scheme in mind?"

"I was going to make it kind of bubble-gum-pop with pink and blue and stuff." She said, biting her lip a little as she erased a few lines with her pencil. I nodded and turned to my food again to let her draw. Yoyo and Rhyth were whispering in each other's ears, most likely some sweet nothings by the look of Yoyo's face and Rhyth's blush. The contrast between blue make-up and red skin will forever be stuck in my head as one of the oddest things I've even seen.

"Alright everybody!" Corn stood from his booth and everyone's attention shot to him. All could think about is how weird this would look if any other diners were in the place.

"I think Catcher has proved himself enough to all, if not most of us, so I'm proposing a toast. Let's hear it for the new kid!" I could feel a slight shade of red creeping onto my face as everyone clapped. Even the girl from behind the counter was clapping, which was kind of hilarious seeing as she didn't understand a word of what Corn was saying.

"Thanks guys," I started, standing up from the booth. I almost lost my balance due to the wheels on my feet, but I held onto the back of the booth to stop myself from falling. "I'm sure my time spent with all of you is going to be a wild ride, what with my antics of arson and vandalism and pissing off Clutch." Everyone laughed at the last part as I took a small bow to accommodate the statement. Garam called out that it should be a game to make Clutch angry, to which everyone agreed. I sat down and Yoyo gave me a high five. I could tell that joining the GGs was going to be an awesome experience and that coming to Tokyo was the best idea I've had in a long while.


End file.
